The End of A Dream
by Queenie47
Summary: He came back; she moved on.
1. Chapter 1

Title: The End of A Dream  
  
Author: Queenie aka Nicole  
  
Beta: Screech  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, typical, J.J. Abrams, Bad Robot and ABC own them, but the people you don't recognize, well they're mine.  
  
Rating: PG-13  
  
Spoilers: Post - The Frame  
  
Summary: He came back, and she had moved on.  
  
Dedication: To Screech, Jen and anyone else who has ever been a muse to me or even a friend to me.  
  
Author's Note: Well, I was getting ready to go to my grandma's on Wednesday, and this idea just hit me like ten minutes before I was leaving, and I had to get it down. The first chapter is a little pecuilar, but it will be explained in the later chapters, you just have to give me the time to explain it. If you want a PM, let me know!   
  
"The End of A Dream"  
  
[1]  
  
It is perfect. Plans have been made. We are going to have coffee. It will be our clean slate; we will get a chance to start again.  
  
We will get the life we deserve, it will be better than we can ever imagine. We share a coy look and a smile as we walk into the rotunda, the tension from the idea of a "cup of coffee" keeping us going. And then we freeze.  
  
People huddle around Lauren, she is crying on Weiss' shoulder, and my stomach drops. This was the end of my little dream of happily ever after with Syd.  
  
I just know it.  
  
Weiss walks over to us, and as he stops, he tries to avoid our eyes, tries to avoid having to tell us this, to shatter our future once again.  
  
"Vaughn...Lauren's father, he committed suicide." And he goes on to tell us that her father has been the mole inside the CIA for the Covenant, which he admitted to it before he killed himself, that Lauren had been helping him under the façade that he had been doing work for the US Government. That she is devastated.  
  
And I wonder, why me? Why was this stupid life thrown into my lap? Why not the guy walking on the street next to me?  
  
This is the end of my dream.  
  
We have to go back to reality.  
  
Reality is with my wife, no cup of coffee in sight.  
  
I know what has to be done. If only Sydney will someday understand, that no matter what, I want to be with her, but my wife, even if we had been separating, I know how it feels for a father to die, and I don't want to force that on her when she's by herself. I have to go back to her. Sometimes I wish I didn't have any morals, my life would have been so much easier.  
  
~&~&~  
  
I know I have to make it up to her, someway; somehow, I have to make this better for her. Ever since she has come back from the dead, she has gotten pushed aside for Lauren, and once again, it has happened, and I feel terrible. I have to talk to her, to explain what's going through my head right now, it's too much for me to handle, I need to get it off my chest once and for all.  
  
And so the only possibility is to call her, even if I hang up, just to hear her voice will soothe my restless soul.  
  
It rings close to two times before I hear her melodic voice, "Hello?"  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Sorry about how I got pulled away." 'Pulled away'; nice phrasing, better yet, why don't you just say, 'Sorry about how I broke your heart, again.'  
  
There is a pause, and I think she is looking for something to say, what do you say to the person you love who is married to someone else? "How is she?"  
  
Gulp. "It's hard dealing with her father's death and betrayal."  
  
And there is an awkward, pregnant pause, as if she is searching for something nice to say when she can't think of anything. "Are you at Eric's?"  
  
s***. Really. s***. What am I supposed to say? I told her I was staying at Weiss' and now I'm back home, in bed with the woman I was supposedly leaving. "No."  
  
"I see." She starts, and I can begin to hear the tears in her voice, I always hated hearing this, because it always meant someone had done something wrong, and this time I did. This time I hurt her more than anyone has ever hurt her before. "Well, I guess we won't be getting that cup of coffee."  
  
Her voice sounds like she's about to breakdown, and I wish I could be right there with her, to catch her when she falls, to comfort her, to tell her it would all be okay, to reassure her that we would be together someday.  
  
"No," I say, "We're not." What am I supposed to say? I don't want to string her along any more, I don't want to hurt her again, and it seems like that's all I'm able to do anymore.  
  
And the desperation in her voice stomps my heart, makes tears pool in my eyes. "Okay, I'm going to go."  
  
I know what that means, she's going to go and she's going to cry over something that she's lost again.  
  
She hangs up before I can stop her, "Syd..."  
  
There's the end of my dream.  
  
Feeling devastated all over again, I crawl back into bed, the woman next to me stirring slightly as she turns my way, "Michael, who was that on the phone?"  
  
"It was...it was no one Lauren, just go back to sleep, it's late."  
  
"Michael?" she asks quietly.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I think we should get away from here...start over again in a place where there aren't so many bad memories for the both of us."  
  
That hangs in the air for a moment as I think it over, and to me, it sounds like the best idea right now, if I'm not near Syd, I can't hurt her again.  
  
"Where were you thinking?"  
  
"I've always wanted to go back to England."  
  
"Let's do it."  
  
And she turns around fully, like she didn't think I would actually agree to it. "Really?"  
  
"Yes. This place has nothing anymore. Just bad memories. Let's go somewhere new and make new ones, happier ones."  
  
The only thing better than being with Lauren is being with Syd, but I've already ruined that one again, so I have nothing anymore, and I'm willing to give mine and Lauren's life and love another chance, a chance to flourish in a new place.  
  
~&~&~  
  
That had been eight years ago, and now, I am back in LA, trying to reclaim what has always been mine, only difference is, it is no longer mine anymore.  
  
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&  
  
So, did you like it? Because I would like to know. 


	2. Chapter 2

I want to get this chapter up for you, because I think it answers a few questions that you might be wondering right now, but also adds a few more to the list you have already come up with, so I'm posting it. I hope you enjoy it!   
  
[2]  
  
I stand to the back of the church with my daughter's hand safely tucked in mine, and watch as she weds another. In my dreams I had always thought it would be her and I, but this is where leaving will get you.  
  
All of my friends sit here, and watch my one true love become Mrs. Sydney Addison as if none of them has a care in the world, as if it wasn't the love of my life up there marrying another man other than me.  
  
And I don't know exactly what I'm still doing there, Briana tugging impatiently on my hand and mumbling about the ice cream I had promised to get her if she let me come here.  
  
"Bri!" I whisper, "We'll leave in a few minutes." She quiets down, and looks anxiously around, trying to figure out where she is, what is happening, and why she is there.  
  
Well, this town has closed down way too early  
  
And there's nothing to do  
  
So I'm driving around in circles  
  
And I'm thinking about you  
  
Today I heard you got a new last name  
  
Sure didn't know it was gonna hit me this way  
  
And the radio just keeps on playing all these songs about rain  
  
Now there's all kind of songs about babies and love that goes right  
  
But for some unknown reason nobody wants to play them tonight  
  
Hey, I hope it's sunny wherever you are  
  
But that's sure not the picture tonight in my car  
  
And it sure ain't easing my pain all these songs like  
  
It's raining outside, and that's omen enough for me to believe that Sydney should end this marriage, call it off, and come to her senses, but for some reason, I get the feeling she won't be calling it off anytime soon.  
  
The way she looks at this man, this man who took my position, is the look that used to only be reserved for me, they were mine and mine alone, and something tells me this man is the only recipient of those looks now.  
  
I pull Briana farther into the shadows forming in the back of the church, I don't need her or I seen, it may have been eight years, and I might have a few gray hairs, but everyone I used to know will still be able to recognize me, easily.  
  
"Daddy, what's going on?" Briana asks quietly.  
  
"Bri, can you be quiet for daddy, please?"  
  
She nods and stands so she is hidden behind me, a wistful smile spreading across my face as I hear Sydney's voice, but my eyes turning cold when I hear what it is she's saying.  
  
"Seth, you came into my life at a time where I was self-destructing: getting drunk every night, taking unneeded risks, blowing off work simply because I didn't feel like going in, but, like an angel you swooped in and saved me from myself, made me believe in true love again, made me believe in myself and someone else again, made me trust my instincts again. You made me forget that I have been burned by someone who supposedly loved me before, and you made me fall madly in love with you. You are the epitome of my guardian angel."  
  
Rainy Night In Georgia and Kentucky Rain  
  
Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again  
  
Blue Eyes Crying In the early morning Rain  
  
They go on and on  
  
And there's no two the same  
  
Tears sting my eyes as her words take there full affect on me. 'You made me forget that I have been burned by someone who supposedly loved me before...' That had been bad enough, but to hear her call him her guardian angel took the cake. I am her guardian angel; she has always called me that, it was my nickname, not his.  
  
Briana looks at me with puppy dog eyes, tears on the brim of falling out of her eyes too. "Daddy, please don't cry! If you cry, then I'll start crying."  
  
I have to be strong for my daughter, she doesn't need to see me this way; so defeated and broken and lonely.  
  
"I'm okay Bri," I sniff. It had been a long time since I cried, "I'm okay."  
  
Oh, it would be easy to blame all these songs about rain  
  
Well, I thought I was over you but I guess maybe I'm not  
  
'Cause when I let you go looks like lonely is all that I got  
  
Guess I'll never know what could have been  
  
Sure ain't helping this mood that I'm in  
  
If their gonna keep playing all these songs about rain  
  
My tears just well up again when I hear that man, Seth, profess his undying love to my Sydney. "Syd, I can never tell you truly how much I love you...you changed my life in so many ways when I first met you, and I've been lucky to get to know you in every way a man can possibly know the woman he loves and is going to marry. And I can see only happiness in our future; I can't wait until I can call you Mrs. Addison; until I can call you my wife for the rest of our lives."  
  
And I think I'm going to be sick...  
  
Picking Briana up, I all but run us out of the door, tears streaming rapidly down my cheeks, and it's almost as if we weren't there, except for the vows I heard between the love of my life, and another man.  
  
The invitation falls on the sidewalk somewhere along my escape route, looking at it makes me tremble with rage, and I need to get away from there quickly.  
  
My car is just down the block, and I scramble to it, helping Briana get strapped in, before running around to the other side quickly, trying to evade the pouring rain.  
  
Someway down the road, Briana's piercing eyes turn towards me. "Daddy?" she asks, "Where are we going?"  
  
"I don't know sweetheart, I was just thinking about the same thing."  
  
"Can we just go home? I don't like it here."  
  
"Actually Bri...we're going to stop in at a friend of mine's house, and if that doesn't work out, then we'll go back home."  
  
She nods slightly, "I miss mommy!"  
  
"Me too sweetheart, but remember, we already talked about this, she's not coming home, she's..."  
  
"...up in the sky with Grandpa and all the angels, and she's watching over us all the time, she's our very own guardian angel."  
  
"Yes Bri, she'd be very proud of you for being such a big girl for the last few weeks, I'm proud of you...now go to sleep, and when we get to where I told you about, I'll wake you up."  
  
Her blonde head nods as she squeezes her eyes shut tightly, and instantly drifts off to sleep, leaving me alone one again.  
  
We invite you to come share  
  
in the joy on May 4, 2003 at 7pm  
  
when we wed Sydney Anne Bristow  
  
and Seth Christopher Addison in  
  
front of their family and friends at  
  
St. Joseph's Church.  
  
~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&~&  
  
Please don't worry, more of your questions will be answered soon!   
  
Lyrics from "Songs About Rain" by Gary Allan 


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, I want to thank each and every one of you for being so welcoming with this story, even though it isn't what you expected in the beginning, but I promise you it will get better sooner or later, but everything has to get worse right? For all of you wondering, Briana is Lauren's daughter too, Lauren is dead, I believe you find out how she died in this chapter actually, so please let me know what you think of it.  
  
[3]  
  
It was time to face reality; I have to find somewhere where my 6-year-old daughter and I can spend the night. She has always been brought up with the best of the best thanks to Lauren's need to give her everything we didn't have as children, and sleeping in the car is not a possibility, I refuse to do that to her, if it comes down to that, I will rent a room at a cheap hotel, just someplace she can sleep for the night, but Weiss has always offered me his couch, I just hope that's still a possibility, because even a couch sounds good right now; the last sleep I had gotten was on the plane, and plane seats are not the most comfortable things to sleep in.  
  
Briana asked to go home, home was a house we no longer own in London, one I had put on the market the day after Lauren's death, after we spread her ashes over her parents estate, her favorite place in the world. I uprooted my daughter from the only home she had known, where all the memories of her mother lay, and flew her on a plane halfway across the world back to a relationship that no longer existed.  
  
And now I regret causing my daughter all of the extra pain that moving her away from the life she knew caused. But it will be okay, we will make a new life, whether here or somewhere else, I do not know, but it will be new and we will create new memories, moments and times, just my daughter and I.  
  
I see a phone booth and smoothly drift to the curb, careful not to wake Bri up as I slowly lift myself out of the car and to the phone booth. I have my cell phone on me, but I want to make sure that Weiss still lives in the same apartment complex before I go over there and let myself in, and find out it's no longer his. There's a phone book inside the phone booth, and I quickly thumb through it.  
  
Weiss, Eric. 104 Beach St. Apt. #47. Yes. Same place. Placing it back on the shelf, I jump back into the car and once again smoothly drive it back out into the traffic of the LA streets. Briana begins to wake, but quickly returns to the dreams she had been having. The apartment complex isn't too far away, it will only take a few minutes, and I'm kind of nervous because he will be the first person in LA to see me in eight years. I hadn't kept in contact with anyone except my mother and occasionally Dixon, but I would make sure Dixon didn't tell anyone that he had heard from me. But with that came the downside: that because I wouldn't let him tell anyone how I had been doing, he wouldn't give me information on anyone, most notably Sydney, and not knowing what had been going on slowly made me mad.  
  
Lauren had realized that even after eight years and half a world, I wasn't over Sydney, and that had been what the few fights we ever had over the years were about: Sydney. That's what caused her death. We had been fighting over me not being over Sydney, when she had stormed out and apparently went to see Sark. He shot her. One bullet clear through her head. And Briana lost her mother. And her life along with it.  
  
But now I am trying to make a new life for her, a life she will enjoy as much as our past life and hopefully a little more. We will rebuild our life here, the life that collapsed in around us mere days ago when my wife, Briana's mother had been killed by her ex-lover who had been in a fit of rage that she had still been with me. And the first thing I did had been to sell our home, get our belongings put into storage until we found a new home, and flew halfway across the world in hopes of rekindling a relationship with a woman I hadn't seen, heard of or from in eight years. And now I sit in the parking lot of my best friend's apartment complex hoping he'll let my daughter and I stay with him. When is my life going to get normal?  
  
Carefully shifting Briana's weight into my arms, I grab the one duffel bag we brought with us on this trek across the world; I stand up and out of the car and start walking towards the entrance into the lobby. I never expected to get so many weird looks walking through a lobby with my daughter, but of course with the way everything is now, it's expected. So I quickly walk across the lobby towards the elevator, not even attempting to try the stairs, especially carrying Bri. As soon as I get to his floor, I wonder, do Syd and Seth live in her apartment? Did they move in there? Is she still so close, but as far away as she's ever been?  
  
Briana breaks me out of my doomed thoughts, ones that would lead to my ultimate downfall. "Daddy?" She stirs and looks up at my eyes, rubbing hers in the process. "Where are we?"  
  
"We're at my friend's house Bri, so just hold on a second and you'll be able to sleep again sweetie." She nestles into my shoulder, as I will myself to walk past Sydney's door, and onto Weiss' apartment, extracting my keys from my pocket and hoping that in the last eight years he hasn't changed the locks, or I am screwed. The key is the most noticeable thing I've ever seen; the key itself is normal size and shape, but the color is something else; Weiss got it coated on the outside with tie-dye coloring and little hockey sticks; you wouldn't be able to not notice it.  
  
Holding the key in my left hand, and Bri on my right side, I insert the key into the lock, and turn, hoping that the door would pop open, and am relieved when it did and I was able to walk into the apartment. It is as if I have just gone back eight years in the past; the entire apartment is identical to what it had been the last time I had been there, including having to clear the couch of dirty clothes and crumbs of food so I could lay Briana down. Instantly, she molds into it and drifts off again. It was the most comfortable damn thing you can ever sleep on, I, myself have slept on it numerous times, and wish I could have it in place of my bed.  
  
"Goodnight daddy," she murmurs as she shifts until she is on her side and can look at me, a slight smile on her face, "Sweet dreams."  
  
"Sweet dreams Briana Kelly Vaughn. Sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite." That is our ritual. Every night, I have to call her by her full name and tell her not to let the bed bugs bite, and on nights when she isn't super exhausted like tonight, she says back, 'They won't bite me daddy, I'm too sweet.' It is our game. Hers and mine. Her mother would tuck her in, but she wouldn't go to sleep until I would come in and do that. When I was away, Lauren would get her on the phone, even when I was in the middle of a mission, my daughter would always come first.  
  
I collapse to the floor in front of Weiss' couch, leaning my arm right next to Briana's body, my head against my knees as I try to do everything in my power to forget what I have seen tonight, what I have heard. Before I know what is happening, a wet tongue is licking my face. "Donovan?" I whisper. My little bulldog had been staying with Weiss while I was gone, and he wags his tail as I stroke him in all his favorite places. "Hey buddy. It's good to see you again Donovan, it's been a while, hasn't it buddy? I'm sorry I had to leave you, but Lauren wouldn't let me bring you with us. Briana's going to love you when she wakes up, I know it, she always wanted a dog, but Lauren wouldn't let her have one. But she can have you now, can't she boy?"  
  
The front door opens, and I freeze. Briana and I have been caught. It is after midnight, and we have been here close to an hour, and I am afraid of Weiss' reaction when he sees me.  
  
"Who's here?" Weiss yells, and I hear him cock his gun, and I realize I didn't re-lock the door; he probably thinks someone has broken into the apartment. "Whoever you are, put your hands on your head, and start explaining exactly why you are in my apartment."  
  
My hands go to the back of my head, and I stand up, just hoping that Weiss doesn't wake up Briana, because really, on top of a pissed off best friend, I really don't need a grouchy six-year-old on my hands too.  
  
And Weiss keeps on walking in, and I know when he sees me, because I hear the gun clatter to the ground, and his voice comes out raspy, "Mike?"  
  
TBC...  
  
~&~&~ 


End file.
